Gingerly testing her limbs, she found all of them were mobile, though her lower right leg throbbed. The van was crumpled in the middle. She barely had room to edge backwards, further hampered by the dress wrapped around her legs. She reached the rear where a space opened up near the doors. She groped for the handle, twisting to push with her foot, but the doors didn’t budge—either locked or damaged. Her knee bumped against something… the fire extinguisher. She made a vain attempt to bust the doors open with the butt of the cylinder, but lacked enough room to swing it with force.
In that moment she caught her first whiff of smoke, along with the pungent odor of gasoline.
Her pulse skyrocketed.
Please, God! Please not again!
In seconds, what little light she had turned hazy, the air stinging her eyes and throat. Terror drove her senseless, and she screamed for help, banging on the door.
“Ellery!”
Logan’s voice? Was it a dream?
“Ellery, are you in there?”
“Logan. Help—” Her words dissolved in a coughing fit.
“Ellery!”
The doors rattled, the entire vehicle shaking.
“It’s jammed!” Logan yelled. “Hang on! We’re going to get you out!”
Every breath burned her lungs.
“Hurry!” she rasped.
“We’ve got a crowbar!”
Metal grated against metal, and the small crack of light widened slightly. She lowered her head, hoping to find clearer air.
“We’ve almost got it. Hang on, baby!”
She held her breath, concentrating on Logan’s voice.
He’s going to save me. I’m going to be okay.
Then a shrill scream rent the air, ripping at her eardrums. Another followed. And another.
“Help me!” The tormented female voice dissolved into more shrieks.
Ellery knew exactly what was happening. She’d been there before. Felt the fire licking her skin. The woman with the clipboard had to be trapped in the front of the crumpled van, and the fire must have reached her.
With the next scream, Ellery’s meager stomach contents emptied. She couldn’t sit by and do nothing while the woman suffered the same searing agony Ellery had endured. She had to do something.
As the creaks of bending metal signaled Logan’s continued efforts, Ellery clutched the fire extinguisher and crawled, coughing, through the dark smoke toward the screeching woman in the front of the van. Each scream evoked vivid memories, stirring her gag reflex again and again. Crawling turned to creeping, until Ellery reached the point where the collapsed car frame stopped her progress. She could see the flames, feel their heat. Every muscle in her body trembled with fear so intense she could barely think.
Behind her, a prolonged metallic grinding gave way to a loud crunch.
Logan’s voice called out, “Ellery! Where are you?”
“Help me!” the woman shrieked again.
“Ellery!” Logan’s panicked voice came closer. “Where are you?”
“Just a minute,” Ellery croaked as she pointed the extinguisher hose at the flames and squeezed the handle. The flames receded, a cloud of steam in their place.
“Help,” the woman’s voice called, weaker this time.
“I’m here.” Ellery said, panting through her scratchy throat. “I think I put the fire out.”
“Ellery!” Logan’s hand found her foot and gave a tentative tug. “I’m going to try to pull you out, okay?”
To Ellery’s horror, the flames began to rise again, as did the woman’s pitiful wails.
“Wait!” Ellery rasped, kicking his hand away. She sprayed the extinguisher, and once again the flames disappeared in a cloud of steam.
“Ellery, we need to get you out.” Logan’s tone was urgent… panicked.
“I can’t leave.” She choked, her head dizzy, shallow breaths coming faster and faster. “This woman is trapped.”
“They’ll get her out,” Logan said. “They’re going in from the front.”
“But there’s a fire, and I—” She fell into a coughing fit, squeezing her eyes shut against the caustic smoke. “I have an extinguisher.”
As the flames reappeared, she hit the trigger again, holding it for a longer time, hoping she would somehow extinguish the fire at its source. The steamy fog billowed over her, and her head swam.
“Ellery, I’m getting you out.”
